


Feel the Lightning

by briennejamie



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Boy Squad, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Girl Squad - Freeform, M/M, Mental Health Issues, The Balloon Squad (SKAM), my twist on the fake dating au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-04-06 21:24:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19070959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briennejamie/pseuds/briennejamie
Summary: Isak and Sana have a plan.Is it a good plan? No. Is it a smart plan? Maybe. Are they both going to regret this? Most definitely. But if all goes well, the rewards will outweigh the costs and everything will be fine. Right?orEven and Yousef are dying. Well, not literally dying. Internally dying. Figuratively falling to their painful deaths. Because, Isak and Sana? Dating? Seriously? If one thing was certain, it was that they were both completely screwed.orThe fake dating AU that no one asked for.





	1. I really like you?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So I came up with this a while ago and since I have more time on my hands now that the semester is done I'm really excited to put this out there. Basically this is a twist on the fake dating AU with Isak and Sana (for various purposes that will become clear in the first chapter). I really hope you guys like this, and the next chapter will be out soon!

FREDAG - 23:04

**ISAK**

Usually Isak could deal with the shenanigans of Jonas, Mahdi, and Magnus. Whether that meant being part of a bet with Magnus about whether he could pick up at least one girl at a party - _“I’m telling you guys, I’ve totally got this one. Watch and learn boys.”_ -, or betting he could down an entire beer then hold a drag of weed in for 30 seconds in one go - _“Do you guys want me to fucking die?”_ -, or that he had to watch Jonas attempt to kickflip over a garbage can at two in the morning - _“I swear to fuck I’ve done this before, don’t worry about it.”_ -, he could do it, it was fine. But tonight? Tonight they were really testing his mental capacity to not have a breakdown in sheer annoyance during the middle of a party.

“Isak, if you don’t go and hit up that chick who’s been eyefucking you all night I will never speak with you again, I swear to fucking god.” Magnus’s grip on his shoulder tightened with every semi-drunken word. “I will have to revoke your bro card, dude.”

Isak’s eyes rolled back into his skull, the flashing lights and stench of alcohol burning into his retinas. “Mags, why the fuck do you even care.”

“Because,” Magnus exclaimed, clearly outraged, “she’s totally hot! Since none of us can’t go get her, as she’s interested in you, you have to bang her for us. You banging her not only helps you out, but it vicariously helps us out.”

“I gotta agree with Mags on this one dude,” Jonas spoke up. _Fucking traitor_ , Isak thought. “Not about all the ‘vicarious fucking’ shit, but that like, you gotta hook up with her.”

Mahdi nodded. “Yeah, bro, you haven’t hooked up with a girl in like, two weeks! What the fuck.”

Isak decided then that he was perfectly okay with the prospect of having an aneurysm at this very moment if it would get him out of his current predicament.

“Maybe I don’t feel like having meaningless sex with random girls at parties anymore,” Isak spat, too drunk to filter himself, too annoyed to care.

Magnus just stared. “I think that’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”

“Well, I think you’re the dumbest person I’ve ever met so I guess we’re even.”

Little “ooooohhhh”s and “oh shit bro”s could be heard from Mahdi and Jonas.

Magnus squeaked in offense. “Rude. Just rude.”

“Can’t we just head back to Jonas’s? This party has suddenly become the last place I want to be,” Isak said in his usual grumpy tone.

“Fuck, fine,” Jonas conceded despite the groans from Mahdi and Magnus.

“You’re such a pussy, man,” Mahdi grumbled. “You always go along with him.”

“We’ve got years under the bro belt, dude,” Isak pointed out, “Jonas has to go along with my shit, and I have to go along with his.”

Jonas nodded with Isak matter of factly, his face pinched.

After a few more light complaints the boys headed back to Jonas’s, albeit reluctantly. Once they all stumbled into Jonas’s room however, Magnus’s liquor induced word vomit started up again.

“Okay, but seriously dude, you haven’t hooked up with anyone since you made out with Emma Larzen, what the fuck’s up.”

The boys looked to Isak expectantly, forcing Isak to take a long swig of his beer hoping it could inspire some Michelangelo level artistry within him to craft a lie that could pacify their curiosity indefinitely.

“Uh, I guess I just…” His mind worked frantically, _Think of something! Anything! Right now! Now! Now!_

“You just…?” Mahdi prompted and Isak could feel his brain literally about to hemorrhage.

“I just…”

His eye was suddenly caught by the stack of pop CDs sitting on Jonas’s desk. Isak and the boys had bought him a bunch of shitty American pop music for his birthday, along with their real presents, as a joke after Jonas had complained about the “plague of capitalism that has infested the American popular music industry”. The one that was facing him was the song _I Really Like You_ by Carly Rae Jepsen, sparking probably the dumbest best idea ever.

“I like someone, so I don’t want to hook up with other girls until I can see if I can get with her, like, to date.”

The response was immediate and loud.

“Holy shit dude!”

“Why the fuck didn’t you just say so?”

“Who is it? Is it Emma? Is it Sara again? Is it that girl in our English class who never wears a bra?”

“Oh, my god, shut up!” Isak exclaimed.

The silence lasted for approximately three seconds.

“Okay, but who is it, you have to tell us, you _have_ to bro, holy shit,” Magnus told him.

Isak rolled his eyes for the billionth time that night. “I don’t have to tell you shit, Mags.”

“Bro,” Mahdi drawled disappointedly.

“You gotta give us something, Isak,” Jonas said.

“I, uh.” He found himself at a loss again, but surely he could buy himself more time. “I’m not gonna tell you now.”

“Dude.”

“But,” Isak interrupted their groaning, “I will tell you after I’ve asked her out on a date, just to see if it’s going somewhere. That way you guys won’t pump me up that it’s gonna be great only for it to fail.”

The boys decided this was reasonable and Isak filtered through his mental list of girls he could pretend to like and potentially ask out. _What the fuck is wrong with me. This was such a bad idea, I’m fucking screwed._

“Okay, but did you guys see Anya checking me out at school on Wednesday?”

“Mags, if this turns into one of your ‘we almost hooked up’ stories I’m gonna implode.”

“Fuck you, man! It’s not, just listen.”

Isak decided that he could wait a few days before really considering his options, because right now, he just wanted to drink and let Magnus’s prattle lull him to sleep.

 

MANDAG - 9:36

Finding the perfect girl to pretend to like may be harder than he originally anticipated.

The boys were hounding him day and night, in addition to the fact that his short list of potential girls was dwindling by the hour.

He couldn’t ask Eva, he’d already fucked that relationship up enough for one lifetime. Noora was hopeless for William, so no one would believe it for a second. Vilde was the last girl he thinks he could pretend to like romantically, and Magnus would be crushed if he tried. Chris, despite wanting to eat him at some point, was busy sucking face with Kasper. If he tried with Sara again, he’s pretty sure he’d never be able to weasel his way out of that one. Emma was too naive, and too desperate. Ingrid was off limits per Jonas, as was literally anyone he’s ever fucked around with.

So Isak decided to stare blankly at the front of the biology classroom, his mind swirling, barely registering Sana’s voice.

“I’ve already told you, the answer is B.”

For once in his biology career, Sana’s insistence wasn’t stirring up much in his head. Who could he possibly ask out without fear of death, bodily harm, commitment, or sex? The possibilities had seemed endless when he was that perfect mixture of drunk and high.

Isak blinked quickly, snapping himself out of his trance as he spoke.

“Then it’s B, I never said it wasn’t B.”

Sana just furrowed her brow, eyes squinting in suspicion.

“What’s up?” she asked, raising her perfectly sculpted eyebrows expectantly.

“Nothing’s up.”

She scoffed in disbelief.

“If nothing was up, you would’ve argued with me about the answer saying that it’s C because the answer is in fact C and I was just testing you to see if you were paying attention.” He stared at her in shock, he had momentarily forgotten just how observant and cunning Sana was.

“So, I’ll reiterate, what’s up?”

Isak took a moment to absorb the details of Sana’s appearance, her black hijab and camo-sweatshirt styled expertly together along with her light yet striking makeup before an idea began to form in his mind.

“Sana, you are gorgeous.”

Her face contorted in confusion.

“Uh, thank you?”

“And, we have a lot in common.”

She nodded slowly, trying to figure out his game.

“We do.”

“You know a lot about me,” he continued.

“True.”

“Even some stuff that literally no one else knows about.”

“Also true.”

“So, to my point… Sana Bakkoush, will you fake date me?”

One second.

Two seconds.

Three-

“What?” she spat, and for once it would seem Isak actually managed to shock her.

“Sana, Isak, pay attention please.” The teacher’s voice made them both turn their heads quickly, but not before Sana could shoot one more withering look at Isak.

Once class ended however, she jumped right to the chase.

“Fake _date_ you? Usually I just roll with your bullshit, summing it up to your boyish stupidity, but I have to ask: what the fuck, Isak.”

“Allow me to explain,” he said slowly.

Sana waved her hand. “Please, enlighten me.”

“Well,” Isak began, gesturing Sana to follow him to one of the stairwells where they could sit on the window sill to talk, “I may or may not have told the boys that I like someone, to get them off my back about hooking up with girls at parties.”

“Okay,” she said, her eyes still scrunched as she looked at him, “so you need to find a girl to date so the boys won’t bother you anymore.”

“Exactly.”

“And you’ve decided that I’m the perfect person for this job.”

“Believe me I’ve been through the list of literally every girl I know, and you, Sana Bakkoush, only if you want of course, are, as you said, the perfect person for the job.”

Sana hummed, languidly leaning back against the window.

“Besides getting the boys off your back, what other benefits do you potentially reap from this?”

Isak smiled, licking his lips slightly. “First, this would give me time to figure out how I’m going to tell the boys that I’m- well, not really that interested in girls in the first place.”

Sana nodded. “Okay, I get that.”

“Second, since you’re Muslim, no one would expect to see any PDA from us and no one will ask if I’ve, you know, _done the deed_ with you or anything like that.”

Sana laughed incredulously. “Excuse me? _Done the deed_? What are you, nine years old?”

“Oh, my god, shut up, you know what I mean!”

“Unfortunately I do, and yes, you’re right. So, continue then.”

“Okay, third, and the best point might I add, is that us fake dating would give me an excuse to hang out with you more,” he told her cheekily. Sana rolled her eyes.

“Really, now?”

“Uh, yeah,” he exclaimed, inciting laughter in the both of them. “We both need to study together for biology anyway, and we already serve as each other’s scapegoat when we don’t want to go to parties or whatever so this would just help with that even more. Plus, I really do want to spend more time with you best bud.”

She laughed at his ridiculousness before agreeing, “Best buds.”

“So… will you help me?”

“What’s in it for me?” she asked with a raise of her eyebrows.

“I was hoping you’d ask,” Isak replied. “Because, yes, I considered that too once I had the idea. First, you told me about how the girls are kind of ignorant when it comes to Islam and you dating people, right?”

“Right.”

“So this would be the perfect opportunity for you to educate them, or at least make them educate themselves. Like, about how you can like boys, and date them, and have a relationship without sex or making out all the time because you want to wait until marriage.”

She hummed, tilting her head.

“Okay… I can see how that would be,” she paused, “beneficial for me. Though, I’m not explaining shit to them, they can look stuff up if they’re that curious. What else?”

“Well, you did tell me about… Yousef.”

Her eyes narrowed again.

“What about him?”

“That you, well-”

“I never said that.”

“Yeah, but you implied it.”

“I didn’t.”

Isak sighed, eyes rolling back into his head. “Regardless, if you ever wanted to make a certain someone jealous, having a boyfriend to flaunt is a good way to do it.”

Sana looked as though she was holding her breath, exhaling deeply before speaking quietly, and slowly.

“In this- this hypothetical situation… how would making said, hypothetical, person jealous help me? Making them think I have a boyfriend would only make them more likely to date someone else.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

“Oh? How so?”

“I, better than anyone, know the look that a guy gets when he’s watching the person he likes with their significant other.” Sana’s eyes swam with a realizing pity, she knew all too well about that. Isak nodded as her expression changed before continuing. “I could help you figure out if this hypothetical person likes you too, if he’s giving us _the look_.”

Silence overtook the pair, as Sana looked out the window for a moment. Isak could see Eva and Noora sitting on one of the benches, talking. Sana took in a deep breath.

“I’ll think about it,” she decided.

“Will you?” Isak said jokingly.

“Yes, I will.”

“Okay then.”

“Okay.”

Isak slid off of the window sill, giving Sana a smile.

“Just text me when you decide, best bud.”

Sana smiled back.

“I will.”

 

MANDAG - 10:52

**SANA**

As she headed across the school courtyard towards Noora and Eva, who now were joined by Vilde and Chris, she could feel Isak’s idea floating around in her mind. She had to admit that she was intrigued by the notion and how it could help her, in addition to helping Isak. However, she didn’t want to be impulsive about this, like she has been with so many other things.

“I swear, Eva, I saw him eyefucking you during lunch,” Chris exclaimed. Eva scoffed incredulously.

“Really though? Was he _really_ eyefucking me, or are you just reading too far into it because you want me and him to get back together.”

“What can I say? I’m a secret romantic.”

Sana almost laughed as she approached them.

“Hey girls.”

“Sana!”

“Hey!”

“What’s up?”

“Hey, girl, where’ve you been?”

Sana smiled, remembering just how glad she was to have these girls.

“I was in biology, and I had to talk to Isak about something.”

Vilde’s expression suddenly lit up.

“Speaking of Isak: Sana, can you ask Isak if he still plans on coming to more of the _kosegruppa_ meetings? I’ve been texting him about it, and he says he is, but I’m not too sure about that. You’re the one who got him to go in the first place, so.”

“Yeah, yeah I can ask him. I’m sure he will though.”

Eva’s eyebrows scrunched together slightly.

“Will he though?” she asked. Sana raised a single eyebrow at her. She still couldn’t quite fathom out Eva and Isak’s current relationship. She knew that they were friends at some point, but that shit hit the fan with Jonas and they drifted. They were certainly friendlier now, but as for Eva’s lingering suspicion surrounding him? She didn’t know.

“He will.”

“Good,” Vilde exclaimed excitedly, “maybe he can get some other people to come too! I know he meets a lot of interesting people at the parties that him and the boys go to. Surely there’s someone.”

Sana hummed, nodding her head before taking a seat on one of the benches in between Noora and Chris.

“Oh, Sana,” Noora suddenly spoke, “did you hear that Eva and Jonas might get back together?”

“Oh, my god, Noora, we’re not getting back together!” Eva exclaimed, but still her cheeks flushed.

“I hope they do,” Vilde said, her hands clasping together. “They were the original power couple, so them getting back together would be great. Plus, that’s one more person in the kose-group!”

Sana had to laugh at Vilde’s single mindedness.

“Not everything’s about the kose-group, Vilde,” Chris joked. Vilde just stuck her tongue out at Chris in a jovial manner, smiling at Eva apologetically.

“Well, anyway, it’s nice seeing some romance in the group,” Vilde commented.

Noora scoffed, letting out a little offended noise.

“What about me and William?”

The whole group groaned collectively.

“Noora, no offense, but all we hear about is you and William,” Eva told her. “Like, we love you guys, but we know pretty much everything we ever need to know about that relationship.”

Chris quickly raised her hand.

“I second that.”

Noora gave Sana a pleading look, and Sana just shrugged unable to contain her teasing smile.

“Ugh, fine fine! I get it,” Noora conceded. “No more talking about William. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t other romance in the group.”

“True true,” Eva began, “what about Chris and Kasper?”

Chris shrugged her shoulders.

“We’re a thing still, yeah. But we’re not like, _deep_ or anything.”

“What about you Vilde?” Eva asked. Vilde’s face flushed, her mouth opening slightly before closing again.

“I mean,” she stuttered, “There are a few boys that could be possibilities. But I’m just, you know, playing the field?” She sounded unsure of herself, and Sana wondered if there were more than a few things that Vilde wasn’t mentioning.

“What about Magnus?” Chris questioned.

Vilde’s eyebrows furrowed together.

“Magnus?”

“Yeah, Magnus Fossbakken? Doesn’t he have a thing for you?”

Vilde’s eyes looked from side to side, as though she were looking for someone to be listening in on their conversation.

“Does he?”

Chris laughed loudly.

“Yeah, girl.”

“Oh.”

“Okay, enough speculation,” Eva cut them off. “So there is romance in the group. We’ve established that.”

Sana could feel that usual coldness filling her stomach as none of the girls asked _her_ about her romantic prospects. Not that she _wanted_ them to ask exactly, but it would be nice for an interest to be taken.

She bit her bottom lip, looking down at her hands for a moment before deciding: maybe she did want to be a little impulsive.

“What, you’re not going to ask _me_ if I have any boys on the horizon?” she said brashly. All eyes turned to her, their faces etched in shock.

Vilde spoke quietly again. “Do you? Have boys on the horizon.”

Sana knew that it was now or never, she’d just have to text Isak about it afterwards.

“Yes, yes I do. Not that any of you care.” She knew that she was milking them a bit, letting them feel a little guilty as she watched their bodies tense. But, honestly? They kind of deserved it.

Noora was the first to straighten herself out, smiling in excitement.

“Well, who is it?”

The girls looked expectant, and Sana wasn’t so sure anymore.

“Well, I just, uh, I just like someone. They go here, and they’re in our year… Yeah.”

Eva rolled her eyes, her face breaking into excitement to match Noora’s.

“Oh, come on. You have to give us more than that!”

Sana could see Yousef’s face flash before her eyes before she waved him away. She could deal with that later, right now she had to help Isak.

“He’s tall, he, uh, we have a lot in common.” Both true things, but the girls just looked more confused than before. “Um, he’s blond.”

Chris scoffed.

“Oh, my god, Sana. Most Norwegian guys are blond. Just tell us his name, we won’t judge you.” She smiled reassuringly, and Sana felt some warmth creep back into her chest.

Sana sighed, allowing Isak’s plan to take full form in her mind. She silently reminded herself of the benefits, before saying-

“Isak. I like, um- Isak Valtersen.” She nodded quickly, something she’s sure she’s seen Isak do awkwardly a hundred times.

Their faces stared at her in shock again, only Chris was smiling nodding her head like she knew everything Sana was talking about.

“Isak?” Eva spat incredulously.

“Yeah, we uh- like I said. We have a lot in common, we both love biology and science. He’s really great to talk to, and he’s, you know, cute.” She stumbled on the last part. It wasn’t like she thought Isak _wasn’t_ cute, it was just that he was anything but her type. She could see how _other people_ would like him like that, just not her.

“Oh, girl, I _know_ ,” Chris said suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows. “I’ve been on that train and back.”

“Oh, my god, Chris,” Noora laughed, “no you have not.”

“I mean, not _literally_ , but like, I’ve been on his figurative train.”

“I can’t believe any of this,” Eva giggled while Sana just looked at her closely.

“So,” Vilde finally spoke, her words slow and contemplative, “do you think he’ll ask you out?”

“Probably,” Sana told them. “I mean, look at me.”

They all giggled at her comment, nodding in agreement.

“But,” Vilde tentatively started again, “if- when he does ask you out, will you say yes?”

Sana blinked in near disbelief.

“Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, her tone sharp and her eyebrows raised.

“Well, you just… you’re Muslim and all that so I just thought that…” she trailed off.

“Thought what, Vilde?” Sana pushed some of her typical anger down, seeing that Isak was definitely right about this being a learning experience.

“I thought you, you know, couldn’t date people? Don’t you have to wait until marriage and stuff?”

Sana sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose quickly before composing herself.

“Vilde, first off, as a Muslim woman, I don’t _have_ to do anything. I _choose_ to wait until marriage to have sex with my partner, and I _choose_ not to engage in certain types of physical contact with the person I want to date, among other things. I can date someone without doing any of those things. Besides, if I didn’t date how would I know who I was going to marry? And don’t say you thought that all of our marriages were arranged because, seriously Vilde, I will end you.”

Vilde bit her lip shamefully, nodding as she absorbed the new information.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Sana closed her eyes and counted to three before looking at Vilde again.

“It’s fine, Vilde. Just, next time? Don’t make assumptions, look it up on Google or something. It isn’t as hard as some people would make it out to be.”

Vilde nodded slowly, a lull overtaking them.

“So,” Noora spoke, “what about Isak not being a Muslim? I thought you said that Muslims can’t marry other Muslims.”

“Well, it’s not like we’re getting married is it?” Sana let herself joke. Noora hummed fondly, but her eyes were still filled with questions. Sana sighed again before answering, her mind drifting to Yousef, all of her anger having drained from her body.

“Honestly? Even I’m not sure of the answer to that question. But, I could always convince Isak to convert to Islam.”

“That’s never gonna happen,” Eva scoffed. Sana felt her eyebrows raise again.

“That’s probably true. But, whatever. Now is now, so it doesn’t really matter.”

As silence overtook the group again, it was only a minute before Chris changed the subject and the girls were back to talking like normal. Sana took out her phone from her pocket, opening her messages.

 

**Isak Valtersen**

_Alright, I’m in_

_You’re in?_

_Yes_

_Sweeeeet_

_We’ll have to plan out what we’re going to do_

_I already told the girls that I like you_

_So all you need to do is tell the boys, then ask me out_

_Then we are golden_

_Aw_

_you like me_

_Isak_

_Sana_

_;)_

_Love you Sanasol_

_You too Isabel_

  


MANDAG - 12:37

**ISAK**

Sitting with the boys at their regular lunch table Isak smiled down at his phone as he felt warmth rise in his chest. He couldn’t help but pride himself on his amazing plan, and the fact that Sana had already taken some initiative in making it happen too.

“What’re you smiling about?” Mahdi questioned, his tone filled with suspicion, before his face broke into his classic grin. “You texting that girl you like?”

Isak laughed, Mahdi’s words rang both completely true and completely false.

“Actually, yes. Yes, I am.”

“Oh shit, really?” Magnus said in excitement. “You gotta tell us who it is now.”

Isak’s eyes flickered back and forth between each of his friends, Magnus’s excited expression, Mahdi’s raised eyebrows, Jonas’s secret grin.

“Uh, yeah,” Isak decided, locking his phone. “Yeah, I guess I can… I think she likes me too, so…”

“Ah, sweet! Who is it?” Magnus clapped his hands together, eager for answers.

“It’s, uh, it’s Sana. Sana Bakkoush.”

“Sana?” Jonas asked incredulously.

“I get it. She’s gorgeous, and smart, she’s totally your type,” Mahdi said, nodding his head in approval. Isak couldn’t help but smile, wondering exactly what his “type” was according to Mahdi, he would definitely have to tell Sana about this.

“Wait,” Magnus began, his face contorted in confusion, “isn’t she Muslim? So, how can you guys date if she’s Muslim?”

“We can still date, Magnus. I just have to listen to what Sana wants to do or not do, and Sana’s waiting until marriage to, you know, but that doesn’t really matter to me,” Isak explained, hoping that he was doing Sana justice with his words. He knew that there was only so much he could learn online about Islam and from what Sana has explained to him.

“Oh, okay, cool then,” Magnus replied, smiling genuinely.

“Are you sure she likes you though, bro?” Mahdi asked. “I’m not sure you’re her type.”

Isak wrinkled his nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re just so… white. And skinny.”

“Wow, thanks,” Isak laughed in mock offense.

“Are you sure you like her that way?” Jonas asked.

Isak turned to Jonas, sensing his best friend’s suspicion and concern. Sometimes he wondered if Jonas knew more than he let on, that he secretly knew about Isak’s long dead crush on him.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Jonas nodded slowly and Isak hoped that after Sana and his plan comes through Jonas will understand why he did it.

“Cool.” Jonas smiled, content for the moment.

“You gonna ask her out?” Magnus asked, practically vibrating out of his skin.

“Yeah, I was thinking later today but I don’t know when.”

“How about just when class gets out in the courtyard. The girls always linger there for a little bit, that could be your moment,” Mahdi advised.

Isak nodded his head, smiling and giving Mahdi a grateful smile.

Mahdi smiled, and after a few moments the boys moved on to a new conversation. Isak took out his phone, opening Sana’s contact.

 

**Sanasol**

_I’m gonna ask you out in the courtyard after school today_

_Cool_

_You tell the boys?_

_Yeah_

_How are you going to do this?_

_Well_

_I’m going to walk up to you and the girls and say_

_“Sana, my shining sun, can we talk?”_

_and you'll say_

_“Yes of course amazing Isak”_

_then I'll ask you out, you’ll say yes, and it will be great_

_Wow_

_True showmanship_

_I can’t wait to see this_

_Damn straight_

_Haha_

_Straight_

_????_

_Because you’re not_

_It’s funny_

_I’m offended_

¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

_Woooooow_

❤️

❤️

 

MANDAG - 14:55

**SANA**

Standing in the courtyard Noora’s words echoed across the school.

“Nei, Vilde.”

Vilde, for what it was worth, looked exasperated at Noora.

“Noora, you’ve been back in Norway for over a month. You have to resocialize here at Nissen! I know that the kose-group might not seem like ‘your thing’, but please. just consider it.”

Noora sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Sana felt the corner of her mouth tilt upwards, knowing what was next.

“Okay, okay, fine. I’ll join the kose-group.”

Vilde smiled, giving Noora a high five which was hesitantly received.

Sana felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

 

**Isak Valtersen**

_It’s happening_

_Look up_

 

Sana turned her head up, immediately seeing Isak and the boys on the other side of the courtyard. Isak turned to her, raising his eyebrows and smirking. Sana rolled her eyes, watching Isak put his phone away, say something to the boys who were all giving him cheeky looks, before beginning his strides towards her.

Chris bumped Sana with her shoulder, smiling excitedly while pointing at Isak.

Sana rolled her eyes again, and soon enough all the girls were watching Isak come towards them. To anyone else watching he would look cool and collected, slow motion walking up to Sana. But Sana could see just how amusing he thought this was, how he raised his eyebrows and Sana had to hold back a laugh.

“Hey,” Isak said once he was in front of the group.

Each of the girls gave awkward “hey”s. Sana raised her eyebrows, tilting her head.

“What’s up?” she asked, trying to exude a cool atmosphere.

“I was wondering if I could talk to you?” Isak replied, a little awkwardness slipping through.

“Sure.”

They walked a short distance away from the girls, putting them in the near center of the courtyard.

“The moment of truth,” Isak said dramatically. “Should I actually ask you out or can we just say I did?”

“Actually do it, then I’ll hesitate before saying yes, and we’ll hug. The perfect crime.”

Isak laughed before nodding.

“Okay then. Sana Bakkoush,” he raised his voice slightly, “I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me, sometime, maybe.”

Sana paused, looking down at her feet for a moment then back up at Isak.

“I would like that,” she said loudly.

Isak leaned in and whispered, “Impeccable acting.”

Sana laughed and whispered back, “I don’t go to Hartvig Nissen for nothing.” She winked and Isak laughed loudly.

“Perfect,” he said before leaning down to give Sana the hug she mentioned.

Sana looked over her shoulder seeing Vilde, Chris, and Noora’s excited faces, along with Eva’s concerned look. She could see the boys on the other side of the courtyard, Magnus high-fiving Mahdi.

After bidding each other goodbye, Sana turned on her heal trying to mask her smugness. She always felt elated when a plan she was part of worked smoothly, and she felt something inside her pray that Isak was right about all this. But at the very least, Isak's problem was resolved for a little while and hopefully hers would be soon too.


	2. The relationship conundrum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Here's chapter two, aka the chapter where things start to pick up and we meet Even and Yousef! Throughout this fic I plan on using multiple points of view from a variety of characters so I hope you guys like this style. If you have a suggestion for who's POV you want to here from let me know, and enjoy!

MANDAG - 15:02

**EVA**

She couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Something in her head was frustratedly trying to piece together Sana and Isak. She could tell that they were friends, but a potential (now seemingly actual) couple? She couldn’t see it. Images of Isak’s longing looks at Jonas flashed through her mind, of what Noora found on his phone, of how miserable he always looked at parties when girls flirted with him. She felt something unpleasant rise in her throat.

The sound of Vilde’s excited squeal shocked her out of her day dream, alerting her to Sana approaching their group.

“He asked you out?” Vilde asked, Sana laughed and nodded. Chris gave her an enthusiastic fist bump.

“Yeah, it seems I was right about this one," Sana joked. Vilde looked as though she were about to burst before jumping to hug Sana. Who knew Vilde could be so happy for someone else's relationship?

"This is so exciting! Now Isak will have to bring his friends to the kose-group," Vilde exclaimed. The girls all laughed at once in disbelief.

"You seriously only think about the kose-group," Sana said before rolling her eyes fondly. Vilde shrugged and smiled sheepishly. Sana sighed. "Well I’ve got to head home now, you guys coming?" Sana asked. Vilde and Chris both nodded and stood to walk with her while Eva and Noora waved to them goodbye.

Eva looked down at her hands, picking at her peeling nail polish.

“All right,” Noora spoke once Sana and the rest were out of view, “what’s up?” Eva looked up to her, her eyebrows raised.

“What’s up with what?”

Noora scoffed and rolled her eyes a bit.

“What’s up with _you_? You’ve been acting strange lately.”

Eva hummed and looked back down at her hands.

“I don’t want to sound negative or mean or anything,” she told Noora, looking at the blond girl with her head slightly tilted.

“Don’t worry about that, I promise I won’t judge.”

Eva sighed, her mouth twitching.

“I just, I don’t know what I think about Isak and Sana,” she explained slowly. Noora nodded, her eyebrows scrunching together.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“After all the shit Isak pulled in first year,” Eva began, “I guess I’m just… worried.”

“Worried about Sana?”

“A little bit, yeah. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Noora laughed lightly. “I don’t think we need to worry about protecting Sana from Isak, you know that if he did anything Sana would not hesitate to make him regret it.” 

Eva rolled her eyes.

“I mean, true. I can’t argue with you about that,” she laughed. “I just-” She paused, looking back down at her peeling nail polish. “I just can’t get away from the thought that something about this is wrong.”

Noora hummed, ignoring the buzzing of her phone. Eva almost told her to check her phone as it was probably William or Eskild. But the again, she could have Noora for a little while; they could wait.

“You still think he might like boys?”

Eva considered this, biting her lip.

“I think he definitely likes boys. He liked Jonas, didn’t he?”

“Maybe,” Noora began, stretching out her words, “maybe he’s bisexual? Just because we _think_ he liked Jonas doesn’t mean he can’t like Sana too.”

“I know that.”

“So…?”

Eva sighed, her train of thought rolling out of reach.

Noora spoke up again. “Maybe you’re still just holding on to some of your mistrust of Isak from first year? Maybe… maybe you’re letting that get in your way- in your way of forgiving him. Of possibly trusting him, again.”

Noora was certainly right about that, Eva thought. She definitely still held some animosity towards Isak because of what happened in first year, especially since he hasn’t tried to talk to her since. Then again, she hasn’t tried talking to him either.

“I just don’t know where he stands,” she confessed. “We used to be _best friends_. Like, I would tell him everything, and I guess I thought he told me everything too.” Long hours of secrets shared that could never be taken back. “Maybe not.” She sighed. “I feel like I don’t know him anymore, like I never knew him.”

“So now you’re confused as to what his motives are, if he’s sincere,” Noora stated.

“Pretty much.”

There was a pause.

“You miss him.”

She did miss him. She missed their late night conversations, their shared music taste and love of _Gossip Girl_ . She missed feeling needed by him, and she hated not knowing how he felt about her. She hated not knowing how much of it was real, if he ever really cared. Logically, she knew that he was just jealous of her and Jonas. She knew that everything before that, and everything outside of her relationship with Jonas, was most likely sincere. But she wasn’t _certain_ , and she was too afraid to ask him.

How pathetic would that sound? _“Hi, Isak, I know we haven’t talked in over a year but I wanted to know if I was really your friend? If you cared about me? If you still care about me?”_

“Yeah.”

Noora smiled sadly, putting her arm around Eva’s shoulders.

“Maybe Isak’s relationship with Sana will give you the opportunity to talk to him again, let everything that’s happened be water under the bridge.”

Eva sighed. “Maybe, but I don’t know if I believe him.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, Eva.”

Eva almost scoffed, she knew that better than most people.

“I still don’t believe it.”

“Believe Isak likes Sana?”

“Not just that, all of it: Isak liking Sana, Sana liking Isak.”

“But they’ve been good friends for a while now. I always see them talking, and Sana told me that they hang out together a lot.”

“Yeah, but them being friends doesn’t mean that they like each other like that.”

“You think they’re faking it?”

“I don’t know what I think.”

Noora’s eyebrows drew together, and she frowned.

“I think… I think we should just trust them, and if something isn’t the truth about it then- then we’ll see what’s up when we get there.”

“Okay, yeah, you’re right,” Eva conceded. “You’re always right, aren’t you?” she joked. Noora laughed and pulled Eva closer. God, she loved this girl.

“Of course I’m always right, that’s what I’m here for.”

Eva smiled fondly, warmth filling her chest reminding her of the best thing that came out of her first year at Nissen.

 

TIRSDAG - 16:22

**EVEN**

“Dude, is everything in your life a Romeo and Juliet reference?” Elias exclaimed.

Even rolled his eyes, giving Elias a shove as they walked towards his house.

“If my life was a big Romeo and Juliet reference it would be a lot more interesting and I’d be a lot more dead.”

“Dude.” Elias gave him a disapproving look.

Mikael, Mutta, and Adam were engrossed in talking about some new video game while Yousef seemed content to walk in his own bubble of silence. They had just finished up their time at the skate park and were ready to film the next _Hei Briskeby_ video with Even’s masterful camera work.

“What are we going to do in this video again?” Elias asked everyone. “A challenge or something?”

“We could talk about you and Isabelle and how you almost threw up on her at that party last week,” Mikael joked.

“Why am I friends with you?” Elias asked.

Mikael just grinned from ear to ear, poking Elias in the shoulder repeatedly before getting a well deserved shove.

“We’ll figure it out,” Yousef said, a smile on his face, “plus we have Even here to make sure we don’t get off track.”

“Of course,” Even exclaimed, smiling wide while giving Yousef a grateful pat on the back.

“Anything to get your mind off your shit, dude,” Mutta said, his voice cheery but tainted with pity.

“Dude, you literally just reminded him,” Adam remarked.

Mutta looked nervously at Even. “Oops?”

Even just smiled tightly. “It’s fine.”

The boys each gave Even their variations on the “pity for a friend you care a lot about but are currently waiting for to open up to you because said friend is more of the keeping things to themselves type even though you want them to spill out all their secrets but you know that it would be an invasion of privacy to try and push them to talk to you so you’re just chilling waiting for them to come to you on their own” look.

Said look was becoming a theme in Even’s life. But if the boys would just _ask_ he would tell them what’s going on.

Even has never been bad about opening up when it comes to emotions, he’s just bad at starting the conversation. Whenever his mom sits him down and asks the right question to get him to open up about what’s going on, he never has a problem word vomiting his feelings to her. It just that ever since _the things_ happened his friends are walking on glass around him. Hence inviting him to only film their _Hei Briskeby_ video as opposed to being in it with them.

Upon reaching Elias’s house they could all hear the sound of Sana’s voice coming from the living room.

“I didn’t think she’d be home right now?” Elias said as he slipped off his shoes. He immediately walked into the living room to greet her.

“Oh, hi Isak,” he said in surprise. The rest of the boys rounded the corner to look into the living room where Even was suddenly being blinded by the image of this strange boy sitting next to Sana.

Fluffy blond hair, gem green eyes, sharp cupid’s bow, perfectly shaped eyebrows, and a nose that sloped down his face perfectly.

Even was struck by lightning, and he was absolutely fucked.

_Holy fucking shit-_

Even was so fucked. So absolutely fucked, in fact, that it took all of his brain power to register that Elias was _talking_ to the the boy.

“So Isak, what’s going on?”

His name, Isak, Even must have missed the first time. _Isak, Isak, Isak…_

“Nothing much, Sana and I are just studying,” Isak replied. _Even his voice is amazing_ _, holy shit._

Unfortunately for Even it was in that moment that he noticed Isak’s arm resting over Sana’s shoulders, keeping her close to his side.

Sana nodded, her eyes flicking quickly over to Yousef then back to her brother. Even turned to look at Yousef in that moment, his friend obviously having decided that staring at Isak’s arm around Sana intensely was the right thing to do.

“Um, actually Elias,” Sana began hesitantly, “I was going to tell you later but Isak and I are kind of... together, now.”

_God fucking damn it._

“When did this happen?” Elias asked, the suspicion in his voice clear.

“Yesterday,” Isak said. “I asked her out, and- yeah. I hope that’s okay with you.”

Even could feel himself deflating with every passing moment. Of course this perfect boy was straight, and of fucking course, because Even is the luckiest man in Norway, said perfect boy is dating his best friend’s sister.

Elias had to snap himself out of his disbelief. “Yeah, of course it’s fine with me. Does mama know?”

Sana rolled her eyes. “Elias, mama likes Isak more than she likes you. She’ll be fine with it.”

“Even though he’s not Muslim?”

All eyes turned to Yousef, his soft but clipped sharp voice an unexpected addition to the conversation. Even Sana looked surprised, but before she could respond Isak spoke up.

“If Mrs. Bakkoush has a problem with it, I understand. But Sana and I are just dating for right now, if we decide that this is something to last we’ll figure it out then. Besides, I’m willing to convert if I need to.”

This day could not get any better. He was willing to fucking _convert to Islam_ for Sana. Why did Sana have to be so amazing? Why couldn’t she be just a little less amazing so that this beautiful boy would just fall into his arms?

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Sana said.

“Alright,” Elias said before turning his attention to Isak. “But Isak, if you hurt my little sister I swear I will end you.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Isak said, his face breaking into a smile. Elias walked forward and shook Isak’s hand firmly before gesturing to the boys that they were done here.

Even began following behind but he let his eyes drift back momentarily to Isak, hoping to get one last look at him.

Except Isak was looking back.

Their eyes met, and Even instinctively went into charm mode. He gave Isak an intense look, letting his eyes look him up and down quickly. Isak’s eyes widened, and, to Even’s surprise and delight, Isak’s glance swept him up and down as well. Satisfied, and a bit confused, Even turned away to continue following his friends to Elias’s room.

 

TIRSDAG - 16:40

**ISAK**

Isak felt his carefully planted arm slip off of Sana’s shoulders as he took in the biggest breath of his life.

“Um, Sana?”

“Yes, Isak?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that your brother was friends with a greek god?”

Sana stifled a laugh, and Isak felt like he could explode at any second.

“Tall, brown hair, white guy?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“His name is Even.”

Isak sighed. “Even.”

When Even had first walked into the living room Isak had to do a subtle double take.

Perfect soft brown hair, crystal blue eyes, full lips, strong jawline, and _tall_. So tall.

Isak felt as though electricity passed through his body the moment he laid eyes on him.

Why, oh why, is it the moment that he sees a perfect boy he has to pretend he’s dating a girl? It’s not as if Isak believes for a second that he would have anything resembling a chance with Even, but can’t a guy at least have the option?

“He’s pansexual you know,” Sana said suddenly, noticing Isak’s internal dilemma.

“Pansexual?” he questioned, because while Eskild has told him a _lot_ since coming out to him, Isak still has a lot to learn.

“It means he likes people regardless of their gender.”

“Like… bisexual?”

“Kind of, but less specific to just boys and girls. More like, he likes all genders without regard to genitalia and gender identity. Loving the person for the person,” Sana explained. Isak guessed that Sana must have done her research upon Even coming out; she was like him in that way.

But, there was something more pressing at hand.

“So, you’re telling me,” he began, “that your brother’s gorgeous friend, Even, who I just had intense eye contact with by the way, likes boys, but now is under the impression that I am dating you.”

Sana paused for a moment.

“Yes.”

“Fuck.”

Sana laughed lightly at him, patting him on the back sympathetically.

“I could just tell Elias that we’re not dating, and he could tell the boys,” she suggested.

Isak sighed. “No, don’t do that. We have to let Yousef sweat a little more.”

“Excuse me?”

Isak turned to look at Sana, her face a blank mask, one eyebrow raised.

“You saw the way he was looking at us, right?” he said.

Sana suddenly looked a little more shy.

“Maybe.”

Isak had to laugh. “He was literally trying to slice my arm off from around your shoulders with his _eyes_ , Sana. He’s probably still pissed right now.”

Sana hummed, deciding to go back to pretend studying.

Isak rolled his eyes. “Sana.”

She turned to him with a tilt of her head. “What?”

“I swear, if we play this thing out for just another week once we reveal that we’re not dating there is absolutely no way that Yousef won’t finally admit his feelings for you.” He gave her a little nod, because of many uncertainties in his life, and the game he and Sana were playing at, this was one thing he was sure of.

“Yeah?” she asked, verging on timid.

“Yeah. Would your best bud lie to you?”

Sana rolled her eyes. “No, my best bud would not.”

“Exactly.” He smiled, but was struck with a thought. 

“Does Even have a facebook or something?” he asked. Sana gave him a cheeky smile while Isak tried to look unimpressed.

“He doesn’t have a facebook, but he has two instagrams: one for himself, and another for photography. His full name is Even Bech Næsheim.”

“Photography?”

“Yeah, he’s really into art and film and stuff like that. He’s helping film one of my brother’s youtube videos right now.”

Isak felt himself become even more intrigued. Even though he was not the artsy type, very much the science lover, he found the idea of Even painting on a canvas or taking pictures of buildings in Oslo very appealing.

“Cool,” he said nodding his head. Sana gave him a cheeky look once more before gesturing to the books in front of them.

“Come on, let’s get back to work.”

Isak sighed, and decided to try his hardest to get Even’s face out of his head.

 

TIRSDAG - 17:08

**YOUSEF**

He was having a minor freak out.

Okay, not minor, rather, a major absolute freak out. How was it that such a good day could be turned so sour in the blink of an eye?

“You okay dude?” Mutta’s hand waved in front of his face.

Yousef snapped out of his daze. “Uh, yeah, yeah I’m good.”

Mutta looked suspicious. “You sure? I mean, you look like you’re about to combust.”

Yousef really hated how bad he was at hiding his emotions. Everything he was feeling seemed to manifest itself onto his face without his say so.

“I just…” He contemplated lying, but decided that would definitely turn out badly. “Are Sana and Isak seriously dating?”

All eyes turned to him at once, and Yousef found himself wanting to melt into the floor.

“Yeah, uh, are they really?” Even began suddenly, his voice hesitant. Yousef couldn’t help but noticed how stiff he was. _If Even likes Sana too I think I might die_ , Yousef thought. Even continued, “Because, I don’t know Isak or anything, but he doesn’t seem like Sana’s type.”

Yousef felt a weight fly off his chest at the fact that Even found this whole scenario suspicious as well. Plus, if Even thought Isak wasn’t Sana’s type, then Even probably wasn’t Sana’s type either.

“I don’t know dude,” Elias began, “they have a lot in common. Isak is over here all the time. It’s not impossible.”

“Not impossible,” Yousef iterated. Elias shrugged his shoulders.

“I mean, Even’s right about Isak not being Sana’s type but I’m not gonna question her just yet. Sana is smart, she wouldn’t date just anyone, and I don’t think that it’s much of our business anyway.”

Yousef felt his face pinch at Elias’s words. He seemed skeptical about Sana and Isak too, but he had no reason to be upset about it like Yousef did.

“What do you know about Isak?” Even asked. Everyone’s eyes were now on Even and Yousef felt himself reevaluating Even’s interest in Sana and Isak’s relationship.

“Why do you want to know about him?” Elias asked, his eyes were narrowing at him in suspicion.

“I, uh, I just have never seen him before and you all seem to know him. So I’m curious, that’s all,” Even said. Yousef looked Even up and down and couldn’t help but see how he was fidgeting. _Huh_.

“Okay…” Elias drawled, “he and Sana have biology together, he’s super into science I think, and he’s in the same year as Sana. He’s a cool guy, always really nice whenever he comes over.”

“Plus he plays some mean FIFA,” Mikael exclaimed. Mutta and Adam nodded in agreement.

“Cool,” Even said slowly, his thoughts seemingly somewhere else. Yousef almost wanted to laugh, it was beginning to look like Even was in a similar situation to himself.

“Can we stop talking about my sister and her new boyfriend now please?” Elias exclaimed. “We need to film this video.”

The boys nodded and Yousef couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift to Sana again. He could feel jealousy run through his body again at the sight of Isak’s arm around Sana, but he couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t forever. He felt a sudden conviction to make his feelings clear to Sana in the hope that she would forget all about Isak.

“Just sit on the couch and I’ll set up then,” Even said as the boys shuffled around the room. Yousef looked to Even again and he was struck with a thought.

_Maybe figuring out how to get Sana to forget about Isak will benefit more than just me._

 

ONSDAG - 8:20

**JONAS**

Jonas Noah Vasquez was not one to snoop around in the lives of his friends. Personally, he would rather his friends, or girlfriend for that matter, come to him with their issues without him deliberately intruding. Unfortunately, the actions of one Isak Valtersen as of late may just push him over the edge.

“How did your date with Sana go?” Magnus’s voice brought Jonas’s attention back to the present moment as Isak looked almost caught off guard by such a question.

“Uh, good, yeah. We just hung out at her place and got dinner,” he replied, almost smooth, almost believable.

Jonas liked to think that he knew and understood Isak better than anyone else. But sometimes he wondered if anyone knew Isak at all, or if he’d done something to make Isak think that he couldn’t be honest about his life. Jonas knew about Isak’s parents, his abrupt moving out, his sleeping problems, and yet here he was seemingly in the dark about his best friend.

Because Isak dating Sana? He wasn’t buying it. Sure, Isak and Sana had biology together, hung out sometimes, and had a lot in common. But dating? Was Jonas supposed to suddenly forget how weird Isak had been acting about girls and dating for the past year, as if his getting a girlfriend resolved the issue? No, he couldn’t let this go, not just yet.

“Do her parents know about you?” Jonas asked. He felt like an overprotective parent in that moment, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Isak raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, Sana mentioned it to them. They’re fine with it, they already knew me before all this anyway.”

Jonas felt his eyebrows pinch together. Sana’s parents already know Isak? How long had Isak and Sana been hanging out?

“You’ve met her parents before?” Magnus asked. It seemed that Jonas wasn’t the only one surprised at this revelation.

“Yeah, we study a lot for biology at her place. Mine is always so loud with Eskild and Noora so it makes more sense to go to hers.” Isak nodded his head at them before glancing at his phone. “I have to get to class, see you guys at lunch.” Isak then gave them a little salute goodbye and walked towards his class.

“Do you guys think he and Sana make out?” Magnus asked. Jonas and Mahdi both looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

“Dude, I don’t know. That’s their business,” Mahdi replied.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure since she’s Muslim she would want to keep that shit private,” Jonas added. Even if he didn’t believe Isak actually liked Sana, he wasn’t going to let Magnus be a dumbass about this.

“Oh, yeah, I guess so. So, should we not ask him about that stuff or…?” Magnus questioned.

“Definitely do not ask him or Sana about that dude,” Mahdi said, giving Magnus an exasperated look. “Honestly, Sana would probably castrate you if you did anyway.”

Magnus laughed, aghast. “What?”

“Have you even met her? She would destroy you, dude.”

Jonas laughed at Mahdi’s words and realized that was probably true. Jonas felt something cold settle in his stomach, because Sana would end anyone who slighted her. Jonas suddenly felt himself hoping that Isak wasn’t lying about liking Sana, because if Sana ever found something like that out… Well, it would not be a fun day for Isak.

 

ONSDAG - 9:23

**SANA**

Sana watched as Isak slipped easily into his usual seat next to her. She could almost remember the first time she sat next to him. She only did it to blackmail him for the weed to get him to the kose-group meetings, but now they were regular lab partners and friends. She supposed now they were even “boyfriend and girlfriend”. Had someone told her that she would end up in this situation at the beginning of the year, she would have laughed in their face. Not to mention that at the time she had no idea that Isak was gay; in fact, she was certain he was just another annoying, pothead, straight Norwegian white boy. He certainly defied her expectations. She was hoping that she defied his too.

Isak turned to face her and smiled.

“The boys are totally buying it,” he exclaimed, “and they aren’t asking me anything weird about our relationship.”

Sana smiled back. “That’s good.”

"Yeah, I know. I did have to tell them that you told your parents about us and that they were okay with it, so if they ask you about it remember that," Isak explained.

"I think I can do that," Sana joked. "But I'm definitely not actually telling my parents about this, I don't anticipate this lasting that long. At least, not to my family's knowledge."

"Don't worry, like I said yesterday, give it a week and Yousef will be falling all over himself to prove his love for you."

Sana scoffed. "Isak, please don't say that here."

"You know it's true."

Sana rolled her eyes before letting a smile loose. "I'll know it's true when I get my end of this deal."

Isak laughed. "Trust me, okay?"

Sana gave him an exasperated look. "Okay."

A few moments passed by before Isak hummed under his breath, considering something.

"Do the girls seem convinced?”

Sana paused for a moment, thinking back to her conversation with them on Monday. Chris was certainly convinced, and it seemed like Vilde and Noora were too. But Eva? Well, she didn’t know what Eva was thinking.

“Yeah, they seem… I think they buy it. At least, they buy it enough not to question me about it,” Sana decided. Isak nodded and looked down at his hands for a moment.

“It’s Eva, isn’t it?”

Sana knew she shouldn’t be surprised that he figured it out so quickly, but she was impressed nonetheless.

“She doesn’t seem very keen on the idea that we’re together. When I said that I liked you, she looked like she was going to say something to me about it but then stopped herself,” Sana explained.

“Yeah, Eva and I didn’t end our friendship on the best terms. It’s no wonder she finds this suspicious,” Isak replied. He was clasping his hands together, his body tense.

“I know...” Sana began, she hesitated to have this conversation with him, especially since class would start any minute now, “I know that you guys stopped talking because of the thing with Jonas, but you never told me why you never tried to talk about it with Eva again?”

Isak decided that staring at the table was the best course of action for himself in that moment. Sana knew that he was reluctant to talk about himself in general, but this was especially the case when the thing they were talking about concerned something he felt ashamed of. It was clear to Sana the moment they had their first conversation on the subject that what happened in first year was Isak’s greatest regret. Sana knew how easy it was to make a bad decision and how quickly the guilt came afterwards, particularly when you didn’t anticipate the consequences.

“Um,” Isak stuttered, “when Eva found out that I was the one who told Chris’s girlfriend about them, I told Eva that it was because I liked her. So, I never told her why I really did it, though she may suspect. Ever since I could never bring myself to talk to her about it. Because if I talk to her about it, well, then I would have to really _talk to her_ about it; I would have to tell her the truth.”

Sana closed her eyes for a moment as she took in Isak’s words. He hadn’t told her about his excuse before, but it only made sense. What else would he have told her?

“So, do you think that she’s suspicious of you just because of her and Jonas or because- because she knows about, well, about you?” Sana questioned.

“I have no idea, maybe both, maybe neither. Like I said, we haven’t talked since first year.”

“Do you want me to say something to her?”

Isak looked as though he were about to speak several times, his mouth opening and closing, before making a decision. “That would only make her more suspicious. Just act like you know nothing.”

“What if she asks me about it?”

“Just be generic, and I guess…”

“You guess what?”

“I guess have her talk to me if she won’t let it go.”

Sana felt herself tense in concern for him. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

Sana felt something shift in the air.

“You miss her.” It wasn’t a question, rather, a statement.

Isak looked at his hands. “I miss her.”

If Sana knew anything about Isak, it was this: he cared about his friends, more than he cared about himself. He could be selfish, he could be forgetful, he could even be a downright idiot, but Sana knew that he never wanted to hurt anyone. This was something they had in common.

“You’re a good friend Isak, you know that?”

Isak looked up at her. “I’m not.”

“You are.”

Their teacher made her way to the front of the class and the room started to settle. Isak looked like he wanted to say something more, but instead he just smiled. She didn’t think that he believed her just yet, but Sana was going to take this moment for what it was and run with it as far as she could.


	3. Dumb teenagers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I had a little writer's block but I've got a plan for the next chapter so it should be smooth sailing. I'm going to try to update once a week unless I happen to write a chapter very quickly. I have no idea how many chapters this is going to be and each chapter is going to be around 5k words so be warned! A long fic awaits!  
> This chapter focuses more on Isak so the next chapter will focus on Sana. Comments and kudos are always appreciated! I hope you enjoy <3  
> Also, warning: maybe Game of Thrones spoilers? Not really? Just a brief mention of the finale with no specifics. Just eject the information from your brain if you haven't watched haha.

TORSDAG - 14:22

**EVEN**

Watching his friends arguing over the ending of  _ Game of Thrones _ as though they were trying to figure out the secret to the creation of the universe was definitely more entertaining than any movie.

“Sansa should have ended up on the throne and that’s that. I am not taking criticism on this,” Mikael exclaimed. 

“But Jon and Gendry actually have a claim to the throne! Sansa didn’t even do anything at the end,” Elias argued. Even rolled his eyes, because while he loved the show he wasn’t sure arguing about the writing, or lack thereof, at this point was worth it.

“It’s moments like these that I’m glad I never watched it,” Yousef joked. 

“You missed out on some good watch nights bro,” Adam replied. The boys nodded in unison like they had a  _ Game of Thrones  _ hive-mind. 

“Whatever you say,” Yousef said, laughing at the boys. He shook his head before suddenly turning to Even. “What’s going on dude?”

Even furrowed his eyebrows, startled out of his thoughts, unsure about the intention behind Yousef’s question. He knew that he wasn’t the most attentive to group conversations as of late, but considering what’s gone on he was acting more normal than usual. The boys knew he was adjusting to his new medication and dealing with the aftermath of the episode he had a few months ago. Considering that, Even’s silence wasn’t exactly atypical. 

But then again, he was feeling more distracted than usual since seeing Isak. He couldn’t get the boy out of his head. He was pretty sure the number of times he had gone through Isak’s instagram was borderline obsessive.

“Nothing,” Even said, “I’m just waiting for these guys to get over the show and move on.”

Yousef laughed. “Yeah, they’re kind of ridiculous.”

“Definitely.”

They fell into silence and Even wished that he knew what Yousef was thinking because he wasn’t sure what Yousef wanted him to say. Should he tell him,  _ “I’m fine, Yousef, just imagining what it would feel like to make out with Sana’s boyfriend” _ , no, too forward, how about,  _ “I have other things on my mind right now, that’s all” _ , that would probably invite more probing questions, he could say,  _ “Well, I am kind of dealing with the fact that I have an incurable mental illness that will impact me for the rest of my life” _ , but yikes, that’s dark, what if he said…

“Even?” Yousef’s voice shocked him out of his inner monologue. “Can we talk in the other room for a minute?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Even decided to ignore his suspicion out of sheer curiosity. “Boys, Yousef and I are going to make some food if you guys want any,” Even said to the room.

“Cheese toast?” Elias suggested.

“Cheese toast it is.” Even smiled as the boys yelled in approval. 

Once in the kitchen, Even started getting out the bread and cheese while Yousef stood off to the side silently.

“Well,” Even began, “we can make toast and talk at the same time, you know.” 

Yousef nodded before joining Even at the kitchen counter, taking in a deep breath. 

“I, uh, like Sana.”

Even slowly turned to his friend, hoping that he was masking the shock on his face well enough. It all started to make sense: why Yousef was acting weird, why he reacted so strangely to Sana dating Isak. The fact that Yousef was dealing with the same thing he was gave him an odd feeling of comfort. But he still felt extreme confusion at this whole situation.

“And you wanted to talk to me, specifically, about this because…?” 

Yousef sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Because I want you to help me in telling her how I feel and, maybe... get her to break up with Isak?”

Now he couldn’t keep the shock and confusion off his face.

“You want me to help you break Sana and Isak up.”

“Yes.”

“Why am I the best person to help you with this, exactly?”

Yousef raised his eyebrows. “Even, it’s obvious you like Isak.”

The air was kicked out of Even’s lungs. 

“What?” Even asked. Being shocked seemed to be a new theme in his life.

“I saw how you were on Tuesday about Sana and Isak’s relationship, asking questions about him. Plus, you were scrolling through his instagram earlier.”

Even knew he wasn’t subtle, but the fact that Yousef figured him out so quickly did not bode well for him keeping his crush from the rest of the boys.

“Yousef, I don’t even know the guy,” Even exclaimed. Yousef looked unimpressed. “Okay,” he conceded, “so maybe I think he’s cute. But that doesn’t really matter since he’s dating Sana. Also, scheming to break them up is pretty shady.”

Yousef rubbed his hands over his face. “I know it sounds shady, but do you actually think Sana and Isak are dating? You said it yourself, he’s not her type.”

“Oh, and you are?” Even joked, incredulous to Yousef’s reasoning. Sure, he found their relationship a little strange, mainly because he had thought that maybe Sana liked Yousef too but he couldn’t exactly prove that.

“I don’t know,” Yousef said, eyes directing themselves to the floor. “I hope so. At least, I thought there was something going on between us, and when Sana was telling us about her and Isak she gave me a weird look.”

Even was reminded at that moment of the look he and Isak had shared. After checking Isak out, he was almost certain that Isak had checked him out too. A straight man in a supposedly new straight relationship probably wouldn’t do that.

“Okay, maybe it’s a little weird,” Even replied. Yousef’s whole face lit up at Even’s validating words. “But,” Even continued, “that doesn’t mean that we should do anything to mess with their relationship.”

“But if their relationship is fake, we wouldn’t really be messing with it.” Yousef was clearly trying to rationalize his urge to do something stupid going after Sana.

“You know that you will never actually go through with doing something like this, right?” If Even knew anything about Yousef, it was that he was soft. He acted like a twelve year old in front of his crushes, never quite knowing what to do to show affection. He would remember the littlest things about the people he cared about and if he even suspected he made someone upset he would be ridden with guilt.

“I just-” Yousef stumbled over his words, “I know you’re right, but- I don’t know.”

Even sighed. “Alright, if Isak and Sana are not actually dating and Sana really likes you, then why are they pretending?” he questioned. He could understand if maybe Isak and Sana  _ were  _ actually dating, but Sana was harboring a secret crush on Yousef as well; but why would they be faking it? It didn’t make sense, though it would make Even infinitely happy to hear if he maybe had a chance with Isak.

“I have no idea,” Yousef admitted. 

Even could hardly stand to see his friend so downtrodden at this whole situation. As much as Even was suffering pining over Isak, Yousef was definitely in a worse situation. He wasn’t certain how long Yousef had been crushing on Sana, but it was certainly longer than Even had even known Isak existed. 

Even sighed. “Okay, how about this, I’ll help you figure out if Sana and Isak are for real and if Sana likes you.” Yousef’s whole body straightened out. “ _ But _ , we are not doing anything to break them up. We’re just investigating.”

Yousef nodded furiously. “Definitely. Thank you, Even.”

“Of course.” Even smiled.

“And hey,” Yousef began, “maybe we’ll find out that Isak likes boys in the process and he'll fall in love with you.”

Even rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”

 

TORSDAG - 19:39

**ISAK**

He was sitting on his bed trying to write the introduction to a paper for the millionth time when his phone buzzed.

**Mama**

_ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. _

_ How are you doing, Isak? I hope everything is going well. _

 

Isak sighed. He knew that he should talk to her, but he couldn’t help but think about the implications of her religious texts. 

When he was little, he would tell his mom everything. The two of them would sit in front of the fireplace in their living room and just talk. She would ask him about school, his friends, if he did anything fun at recess.

As he got older, she started asking him if he liked any of the girls at school. At first, he was always confused as to why she would only ask him about being friends with girls instead of boys. Then he realized that she was asking if he  _ liked  _ any girls and that boys were  _ supposed _ to like girls and only girls. She would tell him how one day he would meet a beautiful girl who would love him forever. He found out very quickly that that wasn’t what he wanted, that he didn’t want a beautiful girl. Every time he imagined telling his mom he felt a shock wave of shame and fear course through his body. He wished that he knew exactly how she would react to such a revelation, but he didn’t; that was the scariest part.

Isak spent only a moment more staring at the message before tossing his phone onto his bedside table. Guilt settled in his stomach. He decided to search for a distraction.

He ended up on Even Bech Næsheim’s personal instagram page as he let his mind move away from thoughts of his mother. The page was filled with artsy shots of Even and his friends, places in Oslo, coffee and some unknown balcony. He felt like an idiot, smiling uncontrollably while staring at pictures of Even. He hadn’t even spoken with him yet and he already couldn’t keep the older boy out of his head.

“Isak, hey.” Eskild’s voice broke through his Even-induced haze. While usually Isak would be annoyed by Eskild coming into his room without knocking, he was too distracted to care.

“Hey,” Isak said, “do you need something?”

Eskild hummed, shaking his head. “No, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m fine,” Isak replied, raising his eyebrows. “So…”

“What are you doing?” Eskild asked as he walked over to sit next to Isak on his bed. 

“Uh, I’m just looking at…”

“Oh,” Eskild exclaimed, “who’s this?”

Isak huffed, slightly embarrassed. “Just some guy Sana’s brother is friends with.”

“Just some guy?” Eskild teased as he poked Isak in the side. Isak almost pushed him off the bed in response but couldn’t keep from laughing.

“When I was at Sana’s, he was with Elias and his friends and, I don’t know, I thought he was… good looking. We made eye contact, that’s it,” Isak explained, stumbling over his words.

“Ah, the spark of attraction,” Eskild said, seeming very pleased with himself. “What’s his name?”

“Even.” Isak pulled up one of the better photos of Even and his friends to show Eskild. 

“Does he like guys?” 

“Sana told me he’s pansexual.”

“That’s great, Isak!” Eskild put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a small hug. 

Isak sighed, Eskild’s enthusiasm only reminded him that he had to keep fake dating Sana for at least another week before he could even consider doing anything about his Even situation. 

“It doesn’t matter for now,” Isak told him. Eskild raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’m kind of, doing something…”

Eskild gave him an unimpressed look. “Doing what?”

“Well,” Isak began, wondering how to explain this in the shortest way possible, “basically Sana and I are pretending that we’re dating so that my friends will stop asking me about girls and so we can make the guy Sana likes jealous.” 

Eskild blinked silently for a moment. Isak licked his lips nervously.

“Isak,” Eskild said, sighing, “ignoring the part about Sana liking someone, which, awesome, you are seriously so worried about your friends being homophobic, which they won’t be, that you found a beard?”

“A beard?”

“A fake girlfriend.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess. It’s just until I feel okay telling them, alright, Eskild?” Isak explained.

Eskild’s face scrunched up. “Isak, just tell me what you’re worried about.”

He paused as he tried to figure out what to say. 

He didn’t want things to change between himself and the boys. He didn’t want people at school to know. He didn’t want to have to explain himself all the time. He didn’t want his parents to find out. He didn’t want to be the gay kid. He didn’t want people to judge him before he got a chance to speak for himself.

“I just don’t want things to change.”

Eskild hummed. “Tell me Isak, are you happy with the way things are now?”

Isak furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Like, do you like having to lie to your friends all the time? Do you like that they say ignorant things because they don’t realize how it impacts you? Do you like having a fake girlfriend?”

Isak looked down but his eye was caught by the picture of a smiling Even Bech Næsheim. He wondered what Even would think of the state of his life.

“No.” 

Eskild nodded matter of factly. “Of course you don’t.”

“But,” Isak said suddenly, feeling something painful rise in his chest, “even though I don’t like the way things are now, how can I know if telling them about me won’t just make things worse?”

“Because Isak, they’re your friends,” Eskild answered easily. “They won’t let it be worse. I’ve met them all before and can tell you for a fact that they would fight to the death for you.” Isak smiled fondly at the thought of his friends running into battle on the school grounds for him. “Especially Jonas.” 

Isak laughed a little under his breath at the thought of what Jonas would do if anyone was ever shitty to him. But then again, he was reminded of the cabin, of Elias and his stupidity. He knew that Jonas only didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to upset his weed dealer, and that he had no reason to think Isak would be impacted so deeply by Elias’s words. But there were still those painful images of his friends abandoning him or being homophobic. Those images weren’t real, but in the course of a nightmare they felt real enough.

“Maybe,” Isak replied. 

“Maybe?” Eskild seemed surprised.

“I don’t know, Eskild. I don’t know shit about what is going to happen, okay? I hate not knowing, not being certain.”

“Well, I understand that for sure. I feel like that all the time.”

“You do?” The idea of Eskild being insecure didn’t want to manifest in Isak’s mind.

“Of course, Isak. I am human after all,” Eskild stated. His voice was soft and warm. “I may seem like some gay god who has it all figured out to you, but I do feel uncertain about my decisions from time to time, about what is going to happen next. Everyone feels like that. Sometimes, you just have to be willing to take the risk. If I didn’t take the risk of being myself, I would never have found happiness.”

Isak nodded slowly, absorbing Eskild’s words.

“I want you to be happy too, Isak,” Eskild finished. 

Isak found himself speaking beyond his own volition. “It’s more than my friends though. If I tell them, the whole school will know. Then, if I want to actually be with a boy, I’ll have to tell my parents, and I can’t tell my parents.”

Eskild grabbed Isak’s hand and squeezed. “If the rest of the school knows, then they know. Fuck them, they don’t matter. Your friends are the ones who matter. But Isak, you have to tell them sometime otherwise you’ll spend your life miserable.”

Isak knew that Eskild was right, at least about his friends, but the weight in his stomach was still there.

“And my parents?”

Eskild sighed. “I don’t know much about your parents, Isak, but eventually they’re going to find out. You can keep it from them as long as you need to, until you feel confident or safe enough to tell them. But I promise, if they react badly, we’ll all be here to help you get through it.”

Isak bit his lip. “I know you’re right.”

“But…?”

“But I can’t get this feeling to go away. I get nauseous at the thought of telling them, of telling anyone.”  Eskild paused, giving Isak a knowing look. 

“That’s called internalized homophobia,” Eskild stated. “That feeling you get, like you’ve done something wrong? Like, how the idea of other people being gay is okay but when it comes to yourself it makes you feel like shit?

“Yeah,” Isak said. He really wished Eskild would stop saying truth things that made Isak have to contemplate his life.

“Tell them,” Eskild said He squeezed Isak’s hand once more before making his way off the bed. “And definitely get Even’s number. Because if you don’t want it, I definitely do.”

Isak gave Eskild and unimpressed look, waving him out of the room. 

The corners of Isak’s lips turned upwards at Eskild’s antics and the thought of Even. He turned back to his computer, Even’s face still shining on the screen. Something pulled at him. He clicked the follow button on Even’s instagram before grabbing his phone.

**Sanasol**

_ Hey _

_ Hey yourself _

_ What’s up? _

_ We have to make a plan _

_ A plan for what? _

_ Getting Yousef super jealous so he admits his feelings for you _

_ Someone’s eager to stop being my fake boyfriend _

_ That’s not it _

_ Well _

_ That’s kind of it _

_ But just so you can tell Elias and his friends and you and Yousef can be gross together _

_ We can keep it up at school, at least for a little while longer while I figure some stuff out _

_ You mean while you suck face with Even? _

_ Sana! _

_ It’s true _

_ As much as I appreciate you wanting me to get together with Yousef, I know that you want to spend time with Even _

_ Which I support fully by the way _

_ Yeah? _

_ Of course. You guys would be good together _

_ Plus, I saw him looking at your instagram today _

_ Seriously? _

_ Yep _

_ We definitely need a plan then _

_ Ok _

_ How about you come over this weekend while Elias and Yousef are working on editing their video _

_ Perfect _

_ We can act all coupley in front of Yousef _

_ Then we figure out how to get you and Yousef alone together _

_ What if he doesn’t tell me he likes me? _

_ He probably won’t say anything _

_ He’s gonna be super jealous though _

_ You can confront him about how weird he was on tuesday _

_ If he doesn’t tell you he likes you right away based on how he reacts you’ll totally be able to tell if he’s into you (which he is) _

_ Then, you tell him we’re fake dating because you’re helping me out _

_ I could also just tell Elias after and he’ll tell the boys _

_ That’s a good idea _

_ Then Yousef will definitely ask you out _

_ I kind of see the logic here _

_ But also _

_ This might be really dumb _

_ Maybe _

_ But hey, it’s worth the risk to be happy _

_ Yeah _

_ Worth the risk to be happy _

_ You should tell yourself that sometime _

_ Believe me, I have _

_ When will you tell the boys? _

_ Not sure _

_ Like I said, I want to figure some stuff out first _

_ Ok _

_ Take your time _

_ I don’t mind keeping up this scheme _

_ Good _

_ And Sana? _

_ Yeah? _

_ Love you _

_ Love you too, Isak _

 

FREDAG - 12:06

**JONAS**

He could see Eva across the courtyard. She was laughing about something with Noora, smiling and looking generally amazing. He felt a bit of jealousy rise in his chest. He missed the days when he could make her laugh, when she would look back at him across the courtyard and smile. He knew that breaking up was for the best during first year, that they both needed to grow, but he continued to feel drawn to her.

“Dude, you’re staring at her again,” Mahdi said, breaking Jonas out of his trance. 

“I can’t believe you won’t just ask her out already,” Magnus commented. Jonas sighed.

“I can’t do that, man. We ended our relationship for a reason and there’s no way she’s interested in getting back together,” Jonas explained. 

“You don’t know that,” Mahdi said. “Have you asked her if she wants to try going out again?”

“Dude,” Jonas replied, rubbing a hand over his face. “Of course I haven’t. I don’t want to risk her saying no.”

“If you don’t risk her saying no you’ll never give her the chance to say yes,” Mahdi stated. Jonas really hated when Mahdi said truth things.

“Let me deal with it, okay?” Jonas conceded. Mahdi and Magnus nodded, letting it be. Jonas looked at his phone, a text lit up the screen.

**Issy**

_ You wanna go somewhere for lunch today? _

_ Kebab? _

_ Sounds good _

_ Can we go without Mags and Mahdi? I need some bro time. _

_ Sure thing _

 

“Hey guys,” Jonas began, “Isak and I are going to get kebab.”

“Are we coming with?” Magnus asked. “Or is this ‘super secret Isak and Jonas bro time’.”

“Super secret Isak and Jonas bro time,” Jonas told them. Mahdi laughed while Magnus raised his arms in exasperation.

“Every time,” Magnus exclaimed. “We never get kebab.”

“Sometimes bros need a one on one,” Mahdi said, standing with Magnus to leave. “See you later.”

Jonas waved as his two friends walked towards the cafeteria. Only a few minutes later, Isak came into view. He was walking with Sana, laughing at something she had said. For the second time that day he felt jealous, wishing he was the one making Isak laugh. 

Whenever Jonas thought about what superpower he would pick if he had the choice, he always wanted either telekinesis or the ability to make plants grow. The second one often got him weird looks, but hey, making plants grow could be very useful to help agriculture in underdeveloped countries. The superpower he would least like to have was mind reading, because the idea of being able to hear people’s most private thoughts seemed extremely intrusive and unappealing. He especially wouldn’t want to hear whatever Magnus was thinking at all hours of the day. 

But recently, he has wanted the ability to read minds more and more. Particularly, he wanted the ability to read Isak’s mind. Would he hear crush-ridden thoughts of Sana? Ranting about his father? Worry for his mother? Questions of when he should do laundry next? Jonas wasn’t sure.

“Hey,” Isak said as he approached Jonas. Sana had gone her separate way, heading towards Eva and Noora. 

“Hey, man. Kebab time?”

“Kebab time.”

Jonas felt himself smile as he walked side by side with Isak. He became starkly aware that he had to look up slightly at him. His best friend had grown so quickly he could hardly remember when Isak was shorter than him.

As they bought their kebabs, Jonas scanned Isak once more. He watched as Isak squinted at the prices and went to pay. Jonas stopped him.

“I got this one,” he said. Isak raised a single eyebrow.

“I’m the one who invited you.”

Jonas shook his head. “It’s cool. My mom just gave me some extra money for helping her around the house.”

Isak nodded, smiling gratefully as they took their food and moved to sit on a bench outside. 

“So, what’s up?” Jonas asked. He was hopeful that Isak would open up to him, even if it was just a little.

“Not much, I just wanted to hang with you alone for a bit,” Isak replied. “I feel like we never hang out like this anymore.”

Jonas hummed. “I guess I’ve just gotten used to having Mahdi and Magnus with us.” He felt like he had to gently prod Isak into talking. “Especially since you’ve bailed out on doing stuff lately.” 

“It’s just been stressful, you know,” Isak said, his usual excuse. Jonas raised an eyebrow, suspicious of his noncommittal answer. Isak’s eyes focused on anything that wasn’t Jonas.

“Yeah, I get that,” Jonas said. “Anything specific?” Isak glanced briefly at him before turning his attention to his kebab. 

“No,” Isak began, “I just wanted to let you know that you haven’t done anything to make me distant, or whatever.”

Jonas furrowed his brow. “But you still don’t want to talk to me about something?”

“Yeah, or, well, there is something going on but I don’t feel comfortable talking about it yet. I just need time. But I will tell you, eventually.”

Jonas nodded. Isak’s words were familiar. “Okay, I get that. Just know that I’m here for you when you do want to talk about it.”

Isak smiled. “Thanks.”

They sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, and Jonas was glad that Isak was willing to at least tell him that they would have a serious conversation sometime soon. It put his mind at little more at ease. But there was still that thought nagging at him.

“So, uh,” Jonas said hesitantly, “how’s Sana?” 

“Good.” Isak seemed tense. “How’s Eva?”

_ That sly little- _

“I don’t know, man, why do you ask?” Jonas couldn’t believe he was going to get this talk again.

“Because Mahdi texted me that you were staring at her again,” Isak explained, smiling cheekily.

“Dude, I told him I was going to deal with it.” Jonas was starting to think that Mahdi, Magnus, and Isak must have a secret chat to talk about Jonas’s love life.

“Well he seemed to think that you needed some encouragement from your best bro.” Isak’s face was smug.

“Why don’t you guys just go up to her and ask her out for me?” Jonas said, his snarkiness getting the better of him.

“I don’t think you want Magnus anywhere near your and Eva’s relationship,” Isak joked. Jonas laughed.

“That’s very true.”

“Maybe you should try talking to her first? Try to be friends with her again?” Isak suggested.

“We’re not  _ not  _ friends, Isak,” Jonas replied. He and Eva texted from time to time, or talked when they bumped into each other at school. 

“Well you’re not  _ friend  _ friends.” 

Jonas sighed. “It’s not like you talk to her anymore either.” 

Isak’s face pinched. “Yeah, well.”

Jonas didn’t expect to strike a nerve with that comment, but he guessed that things were still not fully resolved since Jonas and Eva broke up. At first, Jonas thought that Isak and Eva might stay friends. But he quickly realized that Isak wasn’t going to leave his side for his ex-girlfriend. He wouldn’t have had a problem with them hanging out but something left that relationship sour too.

“Maybe we should both talk to her,” Jonas said. “You know, get our trio back together.”

Isak scoffed. “I don’t think that would go over well.”

“What, do you think she hates you or something? If she hates anyone, it’s me.” He expected Isak to laugh and agree, instead Isak kept that pained look on his face.

“She doesn’t exactly like me.”

“Why not? It’s not your fault we broke up.”

Isak’s face went pale and Jonas knew, like always, that he was missing something.

“Do you think that it’s your fault we broke up?” Jonas asked. The air surrounding them was tense and he was plagued by the fact that he truly didn’t know Isak.

“Of course not,” Isak lied. Jonas felt discomfort rise in his chest.

“Why are you lying about this? Did something happen in first year?”

“I just,” Isak stuttered, “I may have told Chris’s girlfriend about Eva cheating.”

Jonas was stunned. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“I don’t know.” Isak was rubbing his hands together frantically, his kebab sat long forgotten on the bench. “I know that it was shitty. I was drunk when I did it, but I can’t do anything about it now.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me about it?” Jonas questioned. “There was no reason to go tell Iben.”

Isak’s body was exuding shame. “I know.”

Jonas stared at his friend. He was both upset that he was only learning about this now and glad that Isak told him about it.

“I don’t know what to say, man,” Jonas confessed. “I just wish that you would have told me before. Like, right when it happened.”

“Yeah, I know.” Isak sighed. “I guess I take forever to mull over things, huh?” 

Jonas couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “Yeah, you do.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Isak said. 

“It’s okay,” Jonas decided. He didn’t want to push the issue any further, unsure whether he wanted to know exactly what Isak was thinking when he did it. “I get why you don’t want to talk to Eva now.”

“Yeah,” Isak said. His voice was sad and Jonas knew that he was still feeling guilty about this, even now.

“Does Eva know about this?” Jonas asked.

“Yeah, she does. Iben told her and we talked about it.”

“Did she seem like she forgave you?”

Isak shifted, uncomfortable. “She didn’t forgive me, but she wasn’t going to waste her time being pissed.”

“Ah.” Jonas felt an idea manifest in his brain. “Well,” he began, “maybe now we can both redeem ourselves with Eva?”

Isak looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I want to get back together with her,” he admitted, “or at least be friends with her again. In the process we can both apologize for being shitheads in first year.”

Isak laughed. “You weren’t a shithead.”

“I kind of was. I didn’t tell her about the weed and made her freak out about Ingrid.”

Isak hummed, nodding slowly. 

“Just so you know,” Jonas added, hesitantly, “Eva and I would have broken up even if you didn’t say anything to Iben.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because when I found out about Chris, I forgave her really easily. At the end of the day, when she broke up with me it wasn’t about cheating or weed or any of that shit. It was about her, about needing to figure herself out.”

“I think I need to do some of that myself,” Isak admitted. 

Jonas nodded. “We all do. Pretty sure that’s what being a dumb teenager is about.”

The two laughed together for a moment, content. Jonas smiled, glad that he finally made a step forward. Maybe now Isak and him could move forward for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep ending on conversations surrounding the first year drama wHOOPS.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
